The invention relates, generally, to gaming machines and, more particularly, to a coin fill and delivery system for such machines.
Gaming machines typically consist of a cabinet supporting a video screen or a plurality of reels such as those commonly found on slot machines and plurality of player operated buttons. In the video games the video screen displays a game as directed by the game program associated with the computer control system. The player manipulates the buttons to control play of the game. It will be appreciated that the player operated buttons may preferably consist of "buttons" displayed on the video screen (touch screen control) although mechanical buttons located on the game cabinet can be used if desired.
While such machines can be used to play a wide variety of games, such as games with sports or fantasy themes, the use of these machines for gambling purposes, so called gaming machines, has risen dramatically in recent years. Such gaming machines are commonly found in casinos and legalized gambling locales where poker, blackjack, keno or other gambling games are permitted by law.
When used for gambling purposes, gaming machines are typically provided with a coin hopper for holding a quantity of coins or tokens. When the game player wins a game, the machine automatically pays out the player's winnings into a payout trough.
As will be appreciated, it is occasionally necessary to resupply the coin hopper. In existing gaming machines the resupply of coins is a cumbersome operation because of the design of the machines and the remote location of the coin hopper. Thus, it is desired to provide a gaming machine that can be easily and quickly resupplied with coins.
Moreover, existing gaming machines use relatively complex coin delivery mechanisms for delivering the coins from the hopper to the payout trough. These coin delivery mechanisms require occasional maintenance and repair where it is necessary to access the machines. Unfortunately in existing machine designs the coin delivery mechanisms are located in relatively inaccessible positions making maintenance and repair time consuming and difficult. Thus, a gaming machine having an easily accessible coin delivery mechanism is also desired.